FC Dallas concluded its first week of preseason with an intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday. The scrimmage featured three teams rotating in three games. It wasn't a traditional scrimmage where the approach is just to get a run-out and score some goals. Head coach Luchi Gonzalez looked to create situations and play with the intricacies of the game. A couple of times players passed their way out of a run on goal to work on passages of build-up play rather than just score for the sake of scoring.

"The score's important, so we did objectives of the game. One of the objectives is to score and win, but today this is a great week to focus on how to score. We want to score with numbers, so I was really excited for some moments where we had guys around the box. We were combining and we had numbers in the box to create high percentage opportunities to score. If we lost [the ball], those same numbers can recover the ball back so it's a little bit of what we worked on this week and we're going to take that next step this coming week." - Luchi Gonzalez

"The score's important, so we did objectives of the game. One of the objectives is to score and win, but today this is a great week to focus on how to score. We want to score with numbers, so I was really excited for some moments where we had guys around the box. We were combining and we had numbers in the box to create high percentage opportunities to score. If we lost [the ball], those same numbers can recover the ball back so it's a little bit of what we worked on this week and we're going to take that next step this coming week." - Luchi Gonzalez

Two of the teams - orange and green - were comprised largely on FC Dallas professionals, trialists and academy players. The blue team contained players who we may see in USL League One. Among those were Ema Twumasi, third round draft pick Eduvie Ikoba and NTX Rayados' US Open Cup hero Christian Okeke. The teams shifted around too much to make it worthwhile listing. They did play variations of a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 as we've seen with past Luchi Gonzalez teams.

Goals:

As mentioned, it wasn't the primary objective, and two of the three games actually ended 0-0. The orange v green game had all three goals. Two were moments that will want to be left firmly in preseason and one was a beautiful team effort.

1-0 Green: Ryan Hollingshead plays a back pass from the left to Jimmy Maurer. The pass doesn't have enough weight behind it leaving the former New York Cosmos keeper to rush out. Dominique Badji beats Maurer to the ball and slips it in the bottom left corner.

2-0 Green: Marquinhos Pedroso makes a deep run to the byline looking for Badji with a cross, but Reto Ziegler turns it into his own net at the front post.

1-2 Orange: Tenth overall pick, John Nelson, races down the right and squares the ball to Jesus Ferreira. Ferreira turns on the ball and lays it back to the edge of the box for an on-rushing Jacori Hayes to smash low across Kyle Zobeck.

/Dan Crooke / 3rd Degree

January 26, 2019 (Frisco, TX): A compilation of photos from the build up of the third goal in FC Dallas' intrasquad scrimmage as Jacori Hayes scored, assisted by Jesus Ferreira and John Nelson.

Thoughts and Observations:

Two of the games weren't overly exciting, the one that was got really chippy. Jacori Hayes clattered Thomas Roberts, then Reto Ziegler and Michael Barrios had a coming together. Players are fighting to impress a new manager, whether it's for a starting role or a contract. Gonzalez wants to get players out of their comfort zone, and more contact in practice is a reminder that players have to be on their game every day and not just go through the motions.

"Who are you to get over yourself? Get your ego out of here, adapt. Bad call, adapt. You didn't get a perfect ball, adapt. Losing 2-0, adapt. [That was] Absolutely the theme, and it's not going to happen just because I tell them to - 'hey guys, adapt' - no. The circumstance has to cause them to adapt, the environment has to cause them to do that. It's like living. We want to create that. I'm 100% okay with some of those little [tackles] because they [clash] then they play. It's like the real game, now can we channel that better? If someone crosses the line, they're not going to be here. There's boundaries but we have to test the boundary or we won't know what it is. We don't want a bunch of nice guys out here, we want warriors so we have to test the boundaries." - Luchi Gonzalez

This is going to be a high-energy team. Luchi Gonzalez preaches high-pressure offense and defense. His game in the academy was very much numbers on both sides of the ball with everyone pushing up and tracking back. He's shooting to bring that style to MLS.

"One team can get frustrated because they're breaking, their pressure was broken, and they've got to learn from that - to press better. The other team learns 'hey we can play out of this pressure' and vice versa where the pressure was good so they try to reward themselves with the transition to goal and the other team needs to learn 'hey when we're playing out we need to be a little better with this decision, this timing'. I believe in challenging those things. It should not be simple, it should not be easy, because then they don't learn from their mistakes. That goal that was scored, the square ball [Hollingshead's intercepted back pass] has to happen in training so we learn from it because it's too late in a game, so we need to learn it now. We need to learn multiple things like that now so we're better prepared in the game, so I'm happy with that." - Luchi Gonzalez

It may not necessarily be a youth movement, but the younger players are competing. Edwin Cerrillo is a winger turned defensive midfielder. There's a little more of a box-to-box nature creeping into his game as he carried the ball forward in a three-man midfield. Buzz has mentioned many times that he's the next Homegrown signing so keep an eye on his progress.

Likewise, Thomas Roberts didn't miss a beat as both Paxton Pomykal and Pablo Aranguiz spent time on the wings.

John Nelson impressed at right back, as did Bryan Reynolds. With Nelson's ability to play both fullback positions as well as Bressan, there is some real depth on both sides which many feared would be an issue going into 2019. The academy hasn't had a great stock of left backs but Brecc Evans, who recently signed with North Texas SC, filled in for Pedroso and immediately blocked a certain goal-bound shot from Ryan Hollingshead.

"He's [Bryan Reynolds] been an attacker most of his life but he's embracing the defensive points. He's tracking back. He's winning a lot of balls because he's so athletic, facing his own goal as he gets there. I want him to win more balls here [in the middle third] so he can prevent that. He's doing well, he's embraced that role and he knows he's fighting in that role." - Luchi Gonzalez

You're going to hear a lot from us about how Luchi brings a different approach to what we've been accustomed to the past decade. We've seen him talk about Pep Guardiola and Maurizio Sarri as influences, but he brings a lot more than just wanting to emulate a winning style on game day. We know he wants to run a possession team, and we know there's more of a 6-8-10 based midfield than the two defensive mids that Dallas typically deploy. In the scrimmages, there wasn't a single long ball down the wing. FC Dallas knows how to counter with Michael Barrios and Santiago Mosquera, and have leaned on it. Gonzalez is looking to make that an option rather than the option, which is an area in Oscar Pareja's teams that some criticized.

Gonzalez has also cited that the goalkeepers and defenders need to be comfortable on the ball as a part of the attack. We saw the keepers in outfield drills to start the week, and Jesse Gonzalez's passing is something that we've mentioned numerous times during his time in MLS. There was a pressure situation where Kyle Zobeck played a short goal kick with defenders on the byline while two strikers sat on the corners of his area. These manufactured moments make players have to think on their feet whether the defender dribbles out, a one-two to open space for the keeper to play out, or just a good old fashioned lump up-field. Decision making and distribution out of the back are so important in this age.

On a more frank note, if you ever get a chance to talk to Luchi Gonzalez about the game of soccer, please do. He is a hugely knowledgeable purist who has a passion for the game that is incredibly infectious. After the scrimmage, the usual media scrum was a flowing 17-minute conversation about influence, tactics, and fine details. It's usually people taking turns to ask their specific questions and you learn a little in under five minutes. This was a group discussion where you could take away a lot, and that's why this has been a quote-heavy report. A lot of fun and thanks to Coach Gonzalez, Carter Baum of FC Dallas, and our friends at The 19th Minute and Big D Soccer for participating in that discussion.